The invention relates to a household appliance having a controller, which has key components in the form of a computer-like control part, a control part for settings data, a control part for operating data and actuators, which are activated by way of amplifiers, wherein data for activating the actuators is determined by the computer-like control part from the settings data and the operating data, wherein operation of the controller is provided on a novel energy supply network having a data network for exchanging data by way of said energy supply network.
The invention also relates to a method for operating a controller of a household appliance on a novel energy supply network with a data transmission of data by way of said energy supply network, wherein settings data of the controller, operating data from the process of the household appliance and data from the energy supply network are processed by a computer, in order to be able to determine control variables for actuators of the household appliance.
Such a household appliance and method are disclosed respectively by each of the documents US 2010/0063644 A1, US 2008/0272934 A1 and DE 10 2008 062 349 A1.
Household appliances or domestic appliances refer in the following to appliances used to manage a household. They can be large appliances, for example washing machines, tumble dryers, dishwashers, ovens, cookers, extractor hoods, refrigeration appliances, combined refrigerator/freezers or air conditioning appliances. However they can also be small appliances, for example coffee makers or food processors.
As background to the invention it is taken into account that the operation of household appliances of a household, for which the supply of electrical energy by a public energy supplier by means of an associated supply network takes place with the operator being for the energy consumed, is subject to significant change, as in future public energy suppliers will be obliged by statutory requirements to offer load-variable and time-dependent tariffs. Within the context of such statutory changes the traditional meters for recording the energy consumed in a household are being replaced by smart meters, which are able to display the current electricity tariff or supply it as a tariff signal in a wired or wireless manner to the household appliance operator. Smart metering is associated with further facilities offered by the energy supply network relating to a comprehensive data exchange in the electrical energy supply network between one and more generators and a number of consumers of electrical energy, so that it can justifiably be claimed that the energy supply network has intelligence or is smart. This can also include the energy supply network being provided with electricity management.
In the past the operator of a household appliance wanting to utilize a lower electricity tariff had to organize the operation of the respective household appliance by preselecting a start time for the appliance so that a low electricity tariff was actually utilized. It was therefore necessary to take account of the tariff structure of a provider of electrical energy, which was however generally the same in respect of the time sequence in respect of an electrical energy provider.
The new, in particular statutory, requirements mean that the tariffs can switch from high to low within very short time periods, for example of minutes or even seconds. However restrictive requirements can also be placed on the consumer wishing to operate the household appliance in his/her household just as quickly, so that a restriction on the purchase of electrical energy per unit of time, in other words reduced power uptake or even an interruption of the power uptake, has to be taken into account for a time.
DE 10 2008 062 349 A1 specifies strategies for household appliances, such as washing machines, dryers or dishwashers, which are operated in a smart manner on energy supply networks, setting out how the household appliances, of a household for example, can be operated in a price-optimum manner in times of low electricity purchase costs. According to the disclosure of this publication the household appliances are simply considered as ohmic consumers of high power rating, without the process sequence of the household appliances being examined more closely, in particular in respect of the process result, when utilizing low electricity tariffs and the interruptions that become necessary in between due to higher electricity tariffs or network-side requirements for avoiding power surges.
DE 10 2008 043 914 A1 discloses a system, with which at least two household appliances connected to a common energy supply can be operated, without exceeding a maximum quantity of energy supplied instantaneously by way of the energy supply, by allocating at least one household appliance a quantity of energy that is smaller than the quantity of energy required instantaneously in respect of its process sequence. It is also possible here to take into account the point in the process sequence reached by the household appliances connected to the common energy supply in each instance and to allocate a smaller quantity of energy to the household appliance, the process of which can more readily be reduced or operated with a smaller quantity of energy. This takes account of a relative restriction of a single household appliance.
DE 10 2006 029 950 A1 discloses the implementation of an expert system in the control unit of a household appliance, for example a washing machine.
It can be learned from DE 10 2008 042 832 A1 how to proceed with an electronic controller for the type of household appliances addressed in the invention to ensure operation readiness (standby mode) and if the energy supply network fails, so that no data loss results for the correct operation of the electronic controller. A specially designed readiness module is provided according to this publication.
In contrast it is the object of the invention to be able to operate at least one household appliance having an associated controller on a novel electrical energy supply network with inherent intelligence, with transmitted data from the energy supply network being taken into account with settings data of the household appliance that is also available. The settings data is initiated by the user of the household appliance, who can intervene interactively in the program sequence.
A method for operating a controller of a household appliance is also to be specified, with the aid of which the controller can perform operation on the described energy supply network.